Determination of sugars in Chinese traditional drugs by CE with amperometric detection

Comprehensive Quantitative Analysis of SQ Injection Using Multiple Chromatographic Technologies

Quality control of Chinese medicine injections remains a challenge due to our poor knowledge of their complex chemical profile. This study aims to investigate the chemical composition of one of the best-selling injections, Shenqi Fuzheng (SQ) injection (SQI), via a full component quantitative analysis. A total of 15 representative small molecular components of SQI were simultaneously determined using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with quadrupole tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF-MS); saccharide composition of SQI was also quantitatively determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) on an amino column before and after acid hydrolysis. The existence of polysaccharides was also examined on a gel permeation chromatography column. The method was well validated in terms of linearity, sensitivity, precision, accuracy and stability, and was successfully applied to analyze 13 SQI samples. The results demonstrate that up to 94.69% (w/w) of this injection product are quantitatively determined, in which small molecules and monosaccharide/sucrose account for 0.18%-0.21%, and 53.49%-58.2%, respectively. The quantitative information contributes to accumulating scientific evidence to better understand the therapy efficacy and safety of complex Chinese medicine injections.

Decoding glycome of Astragalus membranaceus based on pressurized liquid extraction, microwave-assisted hydrolysis and chromatographic analysis

Carbohydrates in herbs are a relatively untapped source of new drugs and health beneficial ingredients. Their analysis has been developed as a novel aspect in quality control and herbal glycomics. In this study, glycome of Astragalus membranaceus was decoded based on optimized pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), microwave-assisted acidic hydrolysis (MAAH) and comprehensive chromatographic approaches. Twelve saccharides including sucrose, galacturonic acid, mannitol, fructose, rhamnose, ribose, arabinose, fucose, xylose, mannose, glucose and galactose were quantitatively analyzed by GC-MS and HPLC-CAD (charged aerosol detectors). Different columns, including Prevail Carbohydrate ES, XBridge Amide and CARBOSep CHO-820 CA for HPLC-CAD analysis, were compared for evaluation of oligosaccharides. The polysaccharides in water extract of Astragalus membranaceus were characterized by high performance size exclusive chromatography (HPSEC) combined with multiple angle light scattering detection (MALSD) and refractive index detection (RID). The results showed that A. membranaceus contained more than 108.5mgg(-1) free sucrose and small amounts of glucose 9.6-26.0mgg(-1) and fructose 8.7-22.9mgg(-1). While its polymeric carbohydrates were composed of glucose 71.0-162.3mgg(-1), galacturonic acid 52.0-113.4mgg(-1), arabinose 22.8-54.4mgg(-1) and small amounts of galactose, rhamnose, xylose and mannose. CARBOSep CHO-820 CA showed its potential in simultaneously analyzing oligosaccharides and uronic acid, especially only the environment-friendly water mobile phase was used. HPSEC-MALSD-RID showed that there were three different molecular weight distributions of polysaccharides in A. membranaceus and the average molecular weight were 21901.1, 2038.5, and 353.4kDa. Hierarchical clustering analysis and principal component analysis demonstrated that A. membranaceus from different regions showed variations both in free and polymeric carbohydrates, which indicated that carbohydrates should be evaluated for the proper quality control of A. membranaceus. Rha, Ara, Xyl, Man and Gal were found to be the main elements for quality evaluation of polymeric carbohydrates in A. membranaceus by factor analysis. The strategy for decoding the glycome based on chromatographic approaches including GC-MS, HPLC-CAD and HPSEC-MALSD-RID after pressurized liquid extraction and microwave-assisted hydrolysis could be applied for carbohydrates profiling in herbs and beneficial for their quality control.

Chemical constituents comparison of Codonopsis tangshen, Codonopsis pilosula var. modesta and Codonopsis pilosula

Dang-shen, radix Codonopsis is one of the best-known traditional Chinese medicines and is used mainly as a tonic agent. Nine commercial products belong to three species of Codonopsis genus, Codonopsis tangshen, Codonopsis pilosula var. modesta and a cultivated species of Codonopsis pilosula, which were purchased from drug stores in Taipei and Taichung, Taiwan. To determine the chemical differences between samples of Dang-shen, a method combining solvent partition and HPLC-UV was used. An enriched fraction of n-butanol was obtained, after partition. Then, the chemical profile was determined using a C18 reversed column chromatography in a gradient solvent system with 10-40% acetonitrile in 0.1% formic acid, for 60 min. A comparison of the constituents in the nine commercial products of Dang-shen showed that compounds codonopyrrolidum A, B and codonoside A only exist in C. tangshen, but not in C. pilosula var. modesta and C. pilosula. A predominate compound, codonopyrrolidum A, can be used to distinguish the herbs, C. tangshen from C. pilosula var. modesta and C. pilosula. Low secondary metabolite content was found in the cultivated species of C. pilosula.

Development and application of a capillary electrophoretic method for the composition analysis of a typical heteropolysaccharide from Codonopsis pilosula NANNF

A simple capillary electrophoretic method based on 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolon (PMP) derivatization has been developed for simultaneous separation and determination of nine aldoses (xylose, arabinose, glucose, rhamnose, fucose, galactose, mannose, glucuronic acid and galacturonic acid). The separation of PMP-labeled monosaccharide derivatives was carried out in uncoated capillary (48.5 cm x 75 microm i.d.) and under the selected optimum conditions of pH 11.0, 200 mM borate buffer at applied voltage 15 kV and capillary temperature 20 degrees C, the nine PMP-monosaccharides could be perfectly separated from each other within 40 min. Furthermore, the developed method was firstly applied to determine the sugar composition in the polysaccharide isolated from Chinese Codonopsis pilosula. The results showed that C. pilosula polysaccharide was a typically acidic heteropolysaccharide and was composed of arabinose, glucose, rhamnose, galactose, mannose, glucuronic acid and galacturonic acid in the molar contents of 48.1, 103.5, 16.1, 48.5, 7.5, 4.2 and 119.1 microM, respectively. The assay results were satisfactory.

Optimization of CZE for analysis of phytochemical bioactive compounds

Advantages of CZE such as high efficiency, low cost, short analysis time, and easy implementation result in its wide applications for analysis of phytochemical bioactive compounds (e.g. flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, phenolic acid, saponins, anthraquinones and coumarins). However, several aspects, including sample preparation, separation, and detection have significant effects on CZE analysis. Therefore, optimization of these procedures is necessary for development of the method. In this review, sample preparation such as extraction method and preconcentration, separation factors including buffer type, concentration and pH, additives, voltage and temperature, as well as detection, e.g. direct and indirect UV detection, LIF and MS were discussed for optimization of CZE analysis on phytochemical bioactive compounds. The optimized strategies were also reviewed.